Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-03-11
looked as our fathers, mothers and older
hrnf hers and 81 stprs sat ct the cnmmnninn


Or, if we sat with them, we pulled at
that mean? What is that in the cup2
What is that on the plate:" 0, yes; we
remember those sacramentsl days of our
boyhood. We remember how much more
tender father was on that day than on any
other day. We remember how mother
stood, and without saying enc word
looked ct Us, and her eyes got fnll Of
tears. Oh, the dear old soul, They
have gone. But until the day of our
death we will associate this holy ordin-
ance with their memory. And when cur
work on earth is done we will lust go up
and sit down beside them in the heavenly
chuI ch, as we used to sit beside them in
the earthly church, and then We will drink
new wine in our Fathers kingdom.
Behold the saints, beloved of God,
Washed d their robes in JESUS blood;
Brighter than angels. o, they shine,
Their glories splendid and sublime.
l remark again: This scene is tender
to-day because it is confessional. You
and | remember the time when If q man
had charged us with anything
LIKE IMPERF CTIoN
OR wrong doing, we would have thrown
ourselves back on our honor, and said :
You don't know who you are talking to-.
l shall resent such an Insult TO my honor
and integrity" We do not feel that way
to-day. As we gaze upon the sacrifice of
Christ, and think of what we have been
and what we have done, our hearts melt
within us. We see one dying gccursed for
our sin and we hear Him in his diving words
begging for our service, and yet how liz
tie service we have rendered. OF this
short lite We have begrudged God even
q fragment. Alas, Alas, Some of us
have lived out most of our days, and yet
we have rendered to God no earnest
service. Sad, that we could have so NAL
treated Him on whom all our hopes de-
pend. Ga, my brethren and sisters in
Christ, today Join hands with me in a
confession before Carist. If there be
any place more humble than another, let
US take it. 1t there be any prayer more
importunate than another, let US breathe
it. If there be any confession more bit
ter than another, let US now weep it out.
Well might the sun IN darkness hide
Aud shut his glUries in,
When Christ, the II. Shty Maker, died
For man, the creatures sin.
Once more: This IS tender and alb
sOlbipg scene because it is antiCipative
My brethren, we are cot always going to
stay here. This is not our home.
This is
ONLY THE VESTIBTLE
of the church in which at last We expect
to enter. After awhile our names will be
taken off the church books, or there VIII
be mark in the margin to indicate that
We have gone up to bettec church and
10 higher communion. Our Father IS
not going to let His children remain in
the dust. The grave is no place fer US to
stay III. "rhe trumpet shall sound and
the dead shall rise" The Lord Shall de-
scend from heaven with 8 shout and the
voice e the rchangel, and = shall Use
The white ro0e in which they put Us to
our last sIunber here must Get winter.
Oh, the reunion of patIiarChs, and apes
ties, and prophets, and OF ali our glorifed
kindred, and of that "great multitude that
Our journey erded. It will be as when
kings banquet. And: Just as the snow OF
winter melts, and the fields Will brighten
in the glorious Springtfme, so it will be
with all these cold sorrows Of earth; they
shall be melted away at last before the
warm sunshine Of heaven.
While | present these thoughts this
morning does it not seem that
HEAVEN COMES VERY NEAR
to US, as though our friends, whom we
thought great way off, are not in the
distance but close by? You have some
times Gene down to river at nighifall,
and you have been surprised how easily
you could hear voices across that river.
You shouted over to the other side of the
river, and they shouted back. 1t is said that
when George Whiteted preached in Third
street, Philadelphia, one evening time, his
voice was heard clear across to the New
Jersey shore. When was little while
chaplain in the army, remember how at
even-tide we could easily hear the voices
of the pickets across the Potomac, lust
when they were using ordinary
tones. Ard as we come to-day
and stand by the river of
JOrdon that divides US from our friends
who are gone, it seems to me we stand on
one bank and they stand on the other;
and 1t is only q narrow stream and our
voices go and their voices come. Hark
hush! | hear distinctly what they say
"These are they who come out of great
tribulatioD, and had their robes washed
and made white in the flood of the
Lamb Still the voice comes across the
waters, and | hear: ave hunger no
more, we thirst no more, neither shall
the sun light on Us nor aIy heat, for the
Lamb which is in the midst of the throne
leads rs to living fountains Of water, and
God wipeth away all tears from our
eyes"